Ian Pethick

Understand that if the club remain in administration at the end of the season, it's an automatic relegation. It could be even worse than that though, heard that if they get relegated via their league placing (an alarming prospect for them now after the 10 point deduction leaves them a mere 4 points clear of the drop zone) they would then face a "double relegation" back to step 4 (Southern Div 1 South). Is this true? Given the level of support the club does still enjoy, would hope that a Salisbury/Hereford phoenix club can emerge from this mess.

The curse of Austen Booth, first Taunton and now Torquay! Read that the owner has decided to stop funding them,called in the administrators and walked away. The mood of the fans towards the chairman and the manager has been getting ugly recently, wouldn't bet on Torquay finishing the season.

Next to no chance of Truro v Hemel getting played on Saturday (picture of Wordsworth Drive included in this article 😁).

1 point from last 6 games now for City, the slump continues. Do enjoy Gareth Davies' contribution to the podcast, but did he really say in last week's edition that Truro were one of the teams in play off contention? Surely I misheard that. Looks like Dover and Havant are getting cut adrift at the bottom now, with City in amongst the cluster of teams who are in the relegation mix (even with their several games in hand). Next week's matches against Welling and Taunton (in the unlikely event of it getting played that is) have a real 6 pointer look to them.

Read in Non League Paper that the step 3 Northern League have written to the FA formally requesting an extension to the season. With 2 months of the league season remaining, there are still around 40% of the fixtures still to play They have genuine concerns that a couple of clubs (who still have 20 games to play) won't be able to complete their matches. Because of the state of their pitch, Jarrow haven't been able to play a home league game since October.

Now that the new owners are in place at Truro, and that there is hopefully a bit more finance and general level of interest from them, strengthening the backroom staff must be a priority. When I see City matches at this level, the opposition frequently has a small army of coaching staff in various roles. Truro only seem to have Paul Wotton and Stewart Yetton on the bench.

Somebody else has pointed out on here that going on a winning run, which is then followed up by a losing streak, is a feature of Paul Wotton's time at Truro.

4 defeats and a draw for Truro in last 5 games, they are getting sucked back into the NLS relegation picture. Know they have games in hand on the teams around them, but they to start winning them (along with actually getting the "home" fixtures played).

Sportsman 10 also successfully predicted that the Pope's a Catholic. 😁

Parkway v Merthyr off.

Planning permission for Langarth now granted. Intention is for Truro to play there next season, although not clear if it is at the start of,or at some stage during, the 2024/25 campaign. https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2024-02-15/cornish-football-club-to-return-to-home-city-next-season

Just plain old over reach it would seem. As story that is as old as the hills in the world of non league football.

Just to clarify, the rumours surround Taunton going into administration and definitely not Truro.

There are Internet rumours flying around that they are about to go into admistration (some even suggesting they would cease trading altogether). Could be rubbish, but then again the suggestion that Truro would switch their ground share to Taunton seemed far fetched a few weeks ago.

The soap opera continues at Taunton as Chair Kevin Sturmey is now described as being "off sick for the foreseeable future." Their home match due for tonight v Torquay has fallen foul of a waterlogged pitch, the 4th time it's been cancelled I believe. This leaves the small matter of 20 home league games to be played in little over 10 weeks for them and Truro on a Wordsworth Drive pitch that sounds like it's in a terrible state. Don't think it will come to this (and that the games will somehow get played) but what is the sanction for not completing a league season?

Pretty sure Cribbs have pretty strong links with Bristol Uni, a lot of their players are students there

I know the ground grading does seem over the top Dave, but the idea is that the facilities incrementally improve as you rise up the pyramid and get closer to the Football League. I know they do seem harsh (and also very costly), but there have been plenty of clubs over the years that had blazed trails through the league with very expensively acquired squads, and played in grounds that were, to be honest, dumps.

Hope that's true. Would be nice to hear about the pitch spec, and the progress made in installing it, from the club or owners themselves. I know it would likely cost up towards seven figures, but surely a 3G (or whatever we're up to now) would be the way to go if you're future proofing the ground and making it fit to match the club's ambitions (the original blurb around "Stadium For Cornwall" advised it would an artificial playing surface).

Nothing gets past you Jon.😀 Obviously not.

They could park up somewhere on the Devon/Cornwall border of the A30 on a Saturday morning, ring around the clubs above, see what pitch is available, and head there. Could work. 😁

Meanwhile, in other news...

It was pretty widely known last week that Taunton had been placed on a transfer embargo. Would be very interesting to know when the two clubs starting talking about a ground share. One needed a new pitch in a hurry, the other desperately needed an injection of cash.

No idea what the arrangement was between Parkway and Truro regarding bar and food sales etc, but Taunton can now look forward to potentially large visiting contingents (and the money they'll spend) from extra visits by the likes of Yeovil, Torquay and Weymouth. It will not now be spent at Bolitho Park. All helps to keep HMRC happy.

Very good article in this month's When Saturday Comes about how climate change (and more extreme weather)is proving seriously challenging for non league football.